Mean Creek
Keywords:
Bullying, friendship, revenge, forgiveness, family, responsibility, death,
guilt
Tagline(s): Beneath the surface, everyone has a
secret
Director: Jacob Aaron Estes
Screenplay: Jacob Aaron Estes
Starring: Rory Culkin, Trevor Morgan, Scott
Mechlowicz, Josh Peck, Ryan Kelley, Carly Schroeder
Distributor: Paramount (USA); Focus Features
(non-USA)
Cinema Release Date: 20 August 2004 (USA); 29
April 2005 (UK)
DVD Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
(USA); Tartan (UK)
DVD Release date: 25 January 2005 (USA): 3
October 2005 (UK)
Certificate: 15 (UK), R (USA)
Buy Mean Creek from Amazon.co.uk
or from Amazon.com
Summary
When Sam (Rory Culkin), a shy high school kid, is beaten up by towering overweight
bully George (Josh Peck), his big brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) decides
George needs to be taught a lesson. Together with tough smouldering leader
Marty (Scott Mechlowicz) and their friend Clyde (Ryan Kelley), Rocky
concocts a plan. One hot day, they take George out on a boat along with Sam’s
budding girlfriend Millie (Carly Schroeder) under the pretence of it being
Sam’s birthday. They plan to strip him down, throw him in the lake and
leave him to run home naked. But time with George helps them see that he’s
just a lonely kid desperate for friendship and Sam asks for the prank to be
called off. The others agree, except for Marty who wants to see it through.
As the boat drifts, a game of truth or dare rapidly gets out of hand
when Marty tells George their plan. A furious argument breaks out as George
yells at his supposed-friends and goads them all about their weaknesses
until Marty snaps. In the confusion, George is pushed out of the boat and
struggles to swim. Rocky dives in to find him but cannot find any trace
under the water. Soon the lifeless body is discovered floating near the
shore. Each of the group is shocked in their own way about what has
transpired. After some argument, Marty persuades them that the best thing
to do is bury the body and never tell of what has happened but their guilty
consciences are hard to ignore.
Background
This is writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes’ first film, for which he won
the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. It is produced by Rick Rosenthal
(who produced the TV series Life Goes On and Point Pleasant as well as
directing two of the Halloween films and many one-off TV episodes for shows
such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Susan Johnson and Hagai Shaham. Estes
says:
‘I wanted to explore a world inhabited by the kind of kids I remember
from my teenage years – intelligent kids, troubled but sensitive beings,
people who knew that their actions might count for something. I wanted to
see how kids like these would behave under intensely difficult conditions –
how their sense of duty, their relationships and loyalties to one another
could be tested in an extremely stressful, dramatic situation. I think
these kinds of moral questions are something that teens, as well as
parents, really want to see in stories right now.’ (http://www.meancreekmovie.com/production.php)
Questions for discussion
1. Have
you ever been bullied before? Do you remember what it was like? How did it
make you feel? How did it end?
2. What
are the key issues in the film?
3. Which
of the characters do you empathise with the most? Why? Were there any main
characters you couldn’t empathise with?
4. Why
do you think George lies about things to the group (such as claiming he has
smoked before)?
5. How
does your opinion of George change throughout the film? What do you think
of him at the end? Is he a sympathetic character? Why/Why not?
6. How
do you think his dad’s suicide has affected Marty?
7. Do
you agree with Marty or the others about telling the truth? What do you
think you would have done? Why?
8. What
do you think happens to Marty after the end of the film? How do you think
George’s death has affected the others in the group? How do you think they
have all changed by the end of the film? Who has changed the most?
9. ‘You
know when you said we could never be forgiven? I think you were right.’
(Sam)
How has the sense of guilt affected the group? How do they deal with
this? How would a Christian understanding of the cross have helped?
10. ‘Since
no one sees inside my mind, no one really knows.’ (George)
Do you feel differently about George after hearing the ending speech?
How do you think it would have changed the other kids’ opinions of him? Do
you ever feel this way?
© Copyright: Emily Dalrymple 2005
Back
.gif){kind=small}
